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TheSandlot
The Sandlot (1993) - A coming-of-age baseball comedy co-written and directed by David M. Evans (who also narrated the film), which tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. It stars Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Karen Allen, Denis Leary and James Earl Jones. It grossed $33 million worldwide and has become a cult film
TheNatural
The Natural (1984) An adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, and Robert Duvall. The film, like the book, recounts the experiences of Roy Hobbs, an individual with great "natural" baseball talent, spanning decades of Roy's success and his suffering. It was the first film produced by TriStar Pictures. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress (Glenn Close), and nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (Kim Basinger).
Slapshot
Slap Shot (1977) - A comedy directed by George Roy Hill, written by Nancy Dowd and starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean. It depicts a minor league hockey team that resorts to violent play to gain popularity in a declining factory town.
Rocky
Rocky (1976) - Directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted working class Italian-American boxer working in a meat warehouse and as a debt collector for a loan shark in the slums of Philadelphia. Rocky starts out as a small-time club fighter, and later gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship. The film also stars Talia Shire as Adrian, Burt Young as Adrian's brother Paulie, Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer Mickey Goldmill, and Carl Weathers as the champion, Apollo Creed. The film, made on a budget of just over $1 million and shot in 28 days, was a sleeper hit; it earned $225 million in global box office receipts, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1976, and went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture. The film received many positive reviews and turned Stallone into a major star.[3] In 2006, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Rocky is considered to be one of the greatest sports films ever made.
RememberTheTitans
Remember the Titans (2000) - Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay, written by Gregory Allen Howard, is based on the true story of African-American coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel Washington, and his attempt to integrate the T. C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1971. Will Patton portrays Bill Yoast, Boone's assistant coach. Real-life athletes Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell are portrayed by Ryan Hurst and Wood Harris, respectively. Remember the Titans explores civil topics, such as racism, discrimination and athletics. Remember the Titans premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on September 29, 2000, grossing $119 million in domestic ticket receipts. It earned an additional $21 million in business through international release to top out at a combined $136.7 million in gross revenue. The film was considered a financial success due to its $30 million budget. Preceding its theatrical run, the film was generally met with favorable critical reviews before its initial screening in cinemas.
PrideOfTheYankees
The Pride of the Yankees (1942) - Directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. It is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before its release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which later became known to the lay public as "Lou Gehrig's disease". Though subtitled "The Life of Lou Gehrig", the film is less a sports biography than an homage to a heroic and widely loved sports figure whose tragic and premature death touched the entire nation. It emphasizes Gehrig's relationship with his parents, his friendships with players and journalists, and his storybook romance with the woman who became his "companion for life," Eleanor. Details of his baseball careerwhich were still fresh in most fans' minds in 1942are limited to montages of ballparks, pennants, and Cooper swinging bats and running bases, though Gehrig's best-known major league record2,130 consecutive games playedis prominently cited. Yankee teammates Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, and Bill Dickey play themselves, as does sportscaster Bill Stern. The film received 11 Academy Award nominations. Its climax is a re-enactment of Gehrig's poignant 1939 farewell speech at Yankee Stadium. The film's iconic closing line"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth"was voted 38th on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest movie quotes.
NorthDallasForty
North Dallas Forty (1979) - Starring Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, and G. D. Spradlin set in the world of American professional football. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and based on the best-selling novel by Peter Gent. Part drama, comedy, and satire, North Dallas Forty is widely considered a classic sports film, giving insights into the lives of professional athletes. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Peter Gent, a Cowboys wide receiver in the late 1960s, the film's characters closely resemble real-life team members of that era.
Moneyball
Moneyball (2011) - Directed by Bennett Miller from a screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. The film is based on Michael Lewis's 2003 nonfiction book of the same name, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to assemble a competitive team. In the film, Beane (Brad Pitt) and assistant GM Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), faced with the franchise's limited budget for players, build a team of undervalued talent by taking a sophisticated sabermetric approach towards scouting and analyzing players. Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Lewis's book in 2004. Moneyball was featured at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on September 23, 2011 to box office success and critical acclaim. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Actor for Pitt, Best Supporting Actor for Hill, and Best Picture.
Hoosiers
Hoosiers (1986) - Written by Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh. It tells the story of a small-town Indiana high school basketball team that wins the state championship. It is loosely based on the Milan High School team that won the 1954 state championship. Gene Hackman stars as Norman Dale, a new coach with a spotty past. The film co-stars Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper, whose role as the basketball-loving town drunk, earned him an Oscar nomination. Jerry Goldsmith was also nominated for an Academy Award for his score. In 2001, Hoosiers was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
FieldOfDreams
Field of Dreams (1989) - Directed by Phil Alden Robinson, who also wrote the screenplay, adapting W. P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe. It stars Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster in his final role. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.
EightMenOut
Eight Men Out (1988) - Based on Eliot Asinof's 1963 book Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. It was written and directed by John Sayles. The film is a dramatization of Major League Baseball's Black Sox scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series.
Caddyshack
Caddyshack (1980) - Directed by Harold Ramis and written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney. It stars Michael O'Keefe, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray. Doyle-Murray also has a supporting role. The film was later dedicated to producer Douglas Kenney, who died shortly after the film's release. Grossing nearly $40 million at the domestic box office (17th-highest of the year), it was the first of a series of similar comedies. A sequel, Caddyshack II, followed in 1988, although only Chase reprised his role and the film was poorly received. Caddyshack has garnered a large cult following and has been hailed by media outlets, such as Time and ESPN, as one of the funniest sports movies of all time.
BullDurham
Bull Durham (1988) - A romantic comedy partly based upon the minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor-league baseball team in Durham, North Carolina. The film stars Kevin Costner as "Crash" Davis, a veteran catcher brought in to teach rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) about the game in preparation for reaching the major leagues. Baseball groupie Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) romances Nuke but finds herself increasingly attracted to Crash. Bull Durham was a commercial success, grossing over $50 million in North America, well above its estimated budget, and was a critical success as well.
AnyGivenSunday
Any Given Sunday (1999) - Directed by Oliver Stone depicting a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast, including Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, LL Cool J, Ann-Margret, Lauren Holly, Matthew Modine, John C. McGinley, Charlton Heston, Bill Bellamy, Lela Rochon, Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Berkley, Marty Wright, and NFL players Jim Brown and Lawrence Taylor. It is partly based on the novel On Any Given Sunday by famed NFL defensive end Pat Toomay; the title is derived from a line in the book (also used in the film) that a team can win or lose on "any given Sunday", said by the fictitious coach Tony D'Amato. Cameo roles also featured many former American football players including Dick Butkus, Y. A. Tittle, Pat Toomay, Warren Moon, Johnny Unitas, Ricky Watters, Emmitt Smith and Terrell Owens, as well as coach Barry Switzer.
ALeagueOfTheirOwn
A League of Their Own (1992) - A comedy/drama that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Lori Petty. In 2012, A League of Their Own was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
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This cover image released by Mono Mundo Recordings shows "Brand New Day," by The Mavericks. (Mono Mundo Recordings via AP)
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FILE - In this June 30, 2013, file photo, John Lydon performs with his band PiL at the Glastonbury Music Festival at Glastonbury, England. Lydon, whose also known by his stage name, Johnny Rotten, told ITV's "Good Morning Britain" on March 27, 2017, that he supports U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Jim Ross/Invision/AP, File)
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FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2016, file photo, Fetty Wap arrives at the 2016 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Authorities have made an arrest stemming from a Sunday, March 26, 2017, shooting involving hip-hop star Fetty Wap in his New Jersey hometown of Paterson, leaving several people wounded. Investigators said the rapper and several friends became involved in a heated altercation with another group. Officials said the rapper was not hurt. (Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP, File)
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This image released by G.P. Putnam's Sons shows "The Wanderers," by Meg Howrey. (G.P. Putnam's Sons via AP)